Last update on 16 July.
The key positions
The allocation of leading positions in the Parliament is decided through a mixture of horse-trading and the application of a mathematical formula.
President
The choice of President of the Parliament is often agreed by two parties - usually the centre-right EPP and the Socialist Group. However, in 1999 the EPP did a deal with the Liberal Group (ELDR at the time), dividing the 5-year Presidency between Nicole Fontaine of France and Pat Cox of Ireland.
This time around, it seems clear that the EPP and Socialists & Democrats have, once again, made a deal, with Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland) taking the presidency for the first half of the legislature and a Socialist & Democrat MEP - probably the Group’s leader, Martin Schulz (Germany) - likely to chair the Parliament for the second half of the term.
Burson-Marsteller sponsored a debate between the presidential candidates, hosted by the Campaign for Parliament Reform and European Voice, on 8 July. More details on our special EP Presidential Debate page.
Committee chairs
The allocation of Committee Chairs is carried out according to the d’Hondt method. This method rewards the bigger Groups in the Parliament with the first choices of committees over which their members will preside. A simulation of how this procedure works in the new European Parliament is below – the EPP getting the first choice of committee Chair, the Socialists & Democrats the second, and – with the EPP being more than twice the size of the next largest Group – the EPP the third, and so on.
The d’Hondt procedure also works within the Groups; as a result, the largest EPP and Socialist & Democrat delegations – both German – were entitled to the first two choices of committees. However, as ever in the Parliament, things are not that simple. The allocation of other positions – such as Group leader – can come into play and mean that some delegations do not get the pick to which they are usually entitled.
Many other factors also come into play: what is a priority for one Group may not be for another, and sometimes seemingly attractive committee positions do not get chosen early on, leading to them going to smaller delegations. In other cases, Groups (or rather, the leaders of the Groups and the national delegations) may decide that a vice-presidency of a major committee is more valuable than the chairmanship of a less powerful committee. The personality of the person in question, and their expertise, can also have a role to play in the decisions within political Groups.
Committee Chairs
The leaders of the European Parliament’s political Groups and national delegations met in Brussels in the week beginning 6 July to negotiate who will take Chairs of the Parliament’s committees.
The negotiations saw the EPP and the Socialists & Democrats make a technical agreement to carve up the chairmanships of the major committees (alongside an agreement on the presidency of the Parliament).
Provisional list of committee and delegation Chairs
Committees:
Foreign affairs (AFET): Gabriele Albertini (EPP, Italy)
Development (DEVE): Eva Joly (Greens / EFA, France)
International trade: Vital Moreira (Socialists & Democrats, Portugal)
Budgets (BUDG): Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France)
Budgetary control (CONT): Luigi de Magistris (ALDE, Italy)
Economic and monetary affairs (ECON): Sharon Bowles (ALDE, UK)
Employment and social affairs (EMPL): Pervenche Beres (Socialists & Democrats, France)
Environment, public health and food safety (ENVI): Jo Leinen (Socialists & Democrats, Germany)
Industry, research and energy: Herbert Reul (EPP, Germany)
Internal market and consumer protection (IMCO): Malcolm Harbour (ECR, UK)
Transport and tourism (TRAN): Brian Simpson (Socialists & Democrats, UK)
Regional development: Danuta Hubner (EPP, Poland)
Agriculture (AGRI): Paolo De Castro (Socialists & Democrats, Italy)
Fisheries (PECH): Carmen Fraga Estevez (EPP, Spain)
Legal affairs (JURI): Klaus-Heiner Lehne (EPP, Germany)
Civil liberties (LIBE): Fernando Lopez Aguilar (Socialists & Democrats, Spain)
Constitutional affairs (AFCO): Carlo Casini (EPP, Italy)
Women’s rights (FEMM): Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden)
Petitions (PETI): Erminia Mazzoni (EPP, Italy)
Culture (CULT): Doris Park (EPP, Germany)
Sub-committees:
Human rights (DROI): Heidi Hautala (Greens / EFA, Finland)
Security and defence (SEDE): Arnaud Danjean (EPP, France)